Another day, another pop culture-based petition – this one to change the date of Halloween from October 31 to the last Saturday of the month has garnered over 100,000 signatures.
Why should we change the date, I hear you ask? Well, according to the Halloween & Costume Association, who set up the petition last year, there are 3,800 Halloween-related injuries each year. As less people work on a Saturday, these injuries could be cut down.
After months of stagnation, the petition is now gaining traction, MovieWeb reports, now flying past its initial goal of 75,000 signatures and reaching over 100,000. The association is now planning to send it to US President Donald Trump.
Offering more statistics in favour of the date-change, the association said:
70% of parents don’t accompany their children trick-or-treating. You’re never too old to trick-or-treat! Grab a costume and take advantage of some good ol’ fashioned family bonding!
The idea isn’t too outrageous – make a holiday less stressful by always having it on a weekend, meaning kids can stay out later without parents worrying about school the next day. It also means when trick-or-treaters hit the inevitable sugar rush, they have plenty of time to burn out before bed.
The association added some further benefits:
63% of children don’t carry a flashlight while they are tick-or-treating. Grab a clip-on light if they don’t want to carry one! Children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween. Discuss safety, pre-plan a route, stay on sidewalks and use crosswalks.
Halloween is a much bigger occasion in the US compared to the UK. Its origins date back 2,000 years ago to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. The Celts celebrated their new year on November 1, and on October 31, they celebrated the ghosts of the dead returning to Earth.
The online reaction to the proposed date-change has been mixed. Some support it, with one Twitter user saying: ‘This would be awesome! It’s one of the best nights for kids & their friends, and it’s the most fun when it’s dark out!’
Another said: ‘I don’t know about it being safer moving it to Saturday, but it’s definitely more practical for the kids. Trick or treating on a school night leaves parents and kids exhausted the next morning.’
Many are against it however, with one Twitter user saying: ‘Christmas next? Move it to June for the weather.’ Another adding: ‘How about we leave the holidays as is and people stop whining and complaining?’
There’s no telling whether Trump will address the issue of whether to change the date of Halloween. One has to wonder where that falls on the to-do list alongside tweeting and freeing ASAP Rocky. You can find out more about the petition here at Change.org.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.